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I have been avoiding the Voigtländer 40mm 1.4 because I thought - carrying the "Classic" tag - it would be as bad as the 35mm 1.4 (bad meaning soft at f/1.4 with awful field curvature and ugly bokeh).
When I bought a Minolta CLE with 40mm framelines I decided to give it a try nevertheless.
To my surprise the 40mm is much better behaved than the 35mm.

Minolta CLE
Silbersalz35 500T

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Leica M10

 

Minolta CLE
Wolfen NC500 ECN-2 processed

 

Leica M10

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vor 3 Stunden schrieb BastianK:

I have been avoiding the Voigtländer 40mm 1.4 because I thought - carrying the "Classic" tag - it would be as bad as the 35mm 1.4 (bad meaning soft at f/1.4 with awful field curvature and ugly bokeh).

I also was too disappointed by the low performance at open aperture of the Nokton Classic 35/1.4 many years ago and replaced it with the Nokton 35/1.2 ASPH, which I still use today. The Nokton Classic 40/1.4 is not really better at f/1.4 but in the meantime, there has been a certain development in my attitude towards "character" lenses. I see it as a challenge to figure out how to use their weaknesses to create an interesting look.

CV Nokton Classic 40/1.4 @f/1.4 on M9:

 

CV Nokton Classic 40/1.4 @f/2.0 on M9:

 

CV Nokton Classic 40/1.4 @f/8 on M9:

 

CV Nokton Classic 40/1.4 @f/5.6 on M9:

 

The last picture shows, how sharp and with much microcontrast it can render when stopped down..

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I think the Voigtländer 40/1.4 MC is one of the most underrated lenses in the M mount universe. Especially in view of its rather small size and weight - truly matching the original Leica spirit of a small-sized camera+lens package. The lens weighs just 175g.

Should use mine more frequently!

Wide open on M11-D, cropped left and right to square format:

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Edited by Robert Blanko
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On 10/18/2024 at 1:36 AM, pippy said:

Like you, Ray, I am a huge advocate of the 40mm f1.4 Nokton; it really does pair together what is a fantastic focal-length with the rendering of a v1 / v2 (1960-1995) 35mm Summilux.

The Rollei 40mm f2.8 Sonnar is (in 40mm terms) the proverbial "Horse of a Different Colour" and, like the Nokton, is an absolute jewel of a lens. One came into my possession under very fortuitous circumstances a while back but, unfortunately, for numerous disparate and unforseen reasons I've not yet had the opportunity to do the lens justice.

Stating the obvious the Rollei is giving away two stops in comparison to the Nokton so 'Ultimate Wide-Open Boke' is not the 'raison d'être' of the Sonnar. It truly does exist primarily for those photographers who have a preference for this unusual focal-length and who also have a penchant for the rendering of a Sonnar.

Just for fun here are a couple of snaps grabbed recently with the Sonnar. Both taken on an M Monochrome + Leitz Or filter;

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Philip.

EDIT : Just for fun here's a pic of the Rollei Sonnar. It really is TINY!;

Philip, great answer and great photos. I always admire your composition (photographic and linguistic). 

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22 hours ago, Robert Blanko said:

I think the Voigtländer 40/1.4 MC is one of the most underrated lenses in the M mount universe. Especially in view of its rather small size and weight - truly matching the original Leica spirit of a small-sized camera+lens package. The lens weighs just 175g.

Should use mine more frequently!

Wide open on M11-D, cropped left and right to square format:

Agree. Voigtlander 75 f2.5, 40 f1.4, 35 f2.5 and 21 f4 are great small lenses and most likely future classics.

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Sometimes bokeh fringing (from which the Nokton Classic suffers quite a lot at open aperture) may add nice effects:

(Nokton Classic 40/1.4 @f/1.4 on M9, cropped)

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vor 15 Stunden schrieb Biotar:

It is short-sighted to place the thread under M-Lenses, as only Summicron and Nokton will be found here. I use more than a handful of 40s on the SL.

Good question. As I tried to motivate to show 40mm shots, it is not camera specific. We also find pictures from Sony and other cameras in the M-lenses forum threads (as long as they are shot with an M-mount lens), so I see no reason here, why you should'nt show pictures from your SL, as long as the lens you used, can also at least be adapted to the M-mount.

Edited by 3D-Kraft.com
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Yes, exactly - I only know 5 M-mount 40mm lenses (Voigtländer and CL) - regardless of the camera. Although there are certainly 20 other 40mm lenses out there (also for SLRs) that won't appear here. Would you open the topic for all mounts?

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12 minutes ago, Biotar said:

Yes, exactly - I only know 5 M-mount 40mm lenses (Voigtländer and CL) - regardless of the camera. Although there are certainly 20 other 40mm lenses out there (also for SLRs) that won't appear here. Would you open the topic for all mounts?

As long as either the camera or the lens was made by Leitz / Leica images taken with these items would qualify as being within forum rules for submission.

J FWIW I can think of 6 M-mount 40mm lenses. Three Voigtlander, the Minolta Rokkor and the Leitz pairing for the CL from the 1979's - f2.8 Elmarit-C and f2.0 Summicron.

The Elmarit, however, was never put into series production and the several hundred which were made tend to be sought-after by collectors rather than grass-roots M snappers.

Having said that it should be mentioned that a few members here do use them and results are very good.

Philip.

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vor 33 Minuten schrieb pippy:

As long as either the camera or the lens was made by Leitz / Leica images taken with these items would qualify as being within forum rules for submission.

I remember a discussion in another subforum thread (I think it was about portraits) about the qualification of pictures taken with with a Sigma lens on a Panasonic Lumix Camera for this forum. The answer from Andreas (Admin) was, that also this qualifies because of the L-mount. Although I see that already too far away from the spirit of this forum, it's Andreas, who makes the rules.

The discription for the "Leica M lenses" forum, in which we have this thread, still says "The Leica M Lenses Forum is dedicated to everything around the Leica M lenses like Summilux, Summicron and Noctilux". So this is again a different (and propably outdated) viewpoint, as it would even exclude Voigtländer lenses.

As my intention for this thread was to show 40mm shots to give a feeling for this focal length and the lenses, which can provide that, I would open the topic for all lenses that can be adapted to the Leica M system. This would include SLR lenses (due to the larger flange distance) but would exclude lenses with mounts like E-mount and also L-mount.

Edited by 3D-Kraft.com
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12 hours ago, pippy said:

As long as either the camera or the lens was made by Leitz / Leica images taken with these items would qualify as being within forum rules for submission.

J FWIW I can think of 6 M-mount 40mm lenses. Three Voigtlander, the Minolta Rokkor and the Leitz pairing for the CL from the 1979's - f2.8 Elmarit-C and f2.0 Summicron.

The Elmarit, however, was never put into series production and the several hundred which were made tend to be sought-after by collectors rather than grass-roots M snappers.

Having said that it should be mentioned that a few members here do use them and results are very good.

Philip.

 

There are more 40mm M mount lenses  than the above couple posts reference:

VC lenses:     40mm  f/1.2

                       40mm f/1.4 available in 2 different coatings?

                      40mm f/2.8 available in m mount and LTM

Rollie Lens:   40mm f/2.8 Sonnar

Leica Lenses:   40mm f/2.8 Elmarit-c (never released few made, rare)

                          40mm f/2 Summicron-C

                                      Note that  the Minolta CL lens (ver 1)  was the same Leica made lens with a different filter thread.

                          40mm F/2.4 Summarit via a conversion from minilux camera at  least 2 firms have offered

                                                 this conversion. A Japanese firm and a Hong Kong firm which offered a conversion kit.

Minolta Lens:    40mm F/2 CLE lens. Maybe the same optics? but differnt  coatings and  a different mount (not sloped cam)

My favorite for travel is the 40mm summarit conversion.   I did the conversion  myself (was simple).  It is compact, short hood is

          built-in. Better flare avoidance than the 40mm f/2 summicron-c.  Optically better in the corners than the Rollie sonnar.f/2.8.

         And, I don't miss the 1/2 stop of the f/2.

 

I do like the 40mm view.

 

 

 

 

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M11D with 40mm Summicron (shimmed).  

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Trying out 40mm Summicron in ApplePhotos BW mode.

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40mm f2.0 Kinoptik converted to Leica M

on M10M

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40mm f2.4 Summarit converted to Leica M

on M240

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Leica CM

40/2.4 Summarit

Ektachrome 100

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40mm f2 Carl Zeiss Jena Tenax Sonnar lens Leica M converted on M10-P

Edited by JMF
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40mm f2 Carl Zeiss Jena Tenax Sonnar lens Leica M converted on SL2-S 

 

 

 

Edited by JMF
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